Alex Smith, who's been labeled a bust from virtually the second San Francisco made him the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NFL draft.

And Aaron Rodgers, the sympathetic figure who fell to No. 24 in that same draft but then won a Super Bowl and most valuable player.

For years now, Rodgers has played the conquering hero in this story. He beat the odds, played above his draft position and proved the hometown 49ers wrong. Smith has had to live mostly with criticism and disapproval.

For 3½ hours on Sunday afternoon, the roles were reversed.

Smith looked like a No. 1 selection - a player capable of leading an organization to a Super Bowl title. He was dynamic with his arm, feet and brain.

And while Rodgers wasn't bad, his up-and-down summer continued.

The result was a 30-22 San Francisco win in which the 49ers made an early statement for supremacy in the NFC.

"I thought he was great," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said of Smith. "He was really efficient . . . and had a heck of a ball game."

In fairness, Rodgers was operating against the NFL's best defense. Smith had a softer task in facing a Green Bay defense that allowed more passing yards than any team in NFL history last season.

Still, Smith was laser sharp all day, didn't come close to a turnover, and did what he wanted, when he wanted to. Smith completed 20 of his 26 passes (76.9%) for 211 yards, threw two TDs, no interceptions and had a Rodgers-like passer rating of 125.6.

Smith led the 49ers to points on five straight possessions. And at one point, San Francisco went 43 minutes without a punt.

This marked just the second time Rodgers and Smith started against each other in their eight-year careers. The series is now deadlocked, 1-1.

"Give him a lot of credit," Packer defensive end Ryan Pickett said of Smith. "The guy played a really good game."

Of greater concern to Green Bay is getting its high-powered offense on track. The Packers scored 560 points last season - the second most in NFL history - and were downright unstoppable much of the season.

In late June, coach Mike McCarthy said: "To me, last year was the standard. We set the standard on offense, and that's what we'd like to hold ourselves to."

But Green Bay was far more inconsistent this summer. Rodgers had a passer rating of just 53.8 during the preseason, his lowest since his rookie year of 2005.

And Rodgers and the Packers continued to struggle against San Francisco.

Green Bay produced just one touchdown on its first eight possessions against the fast, physical and precise 49ers. The Packers punted on six of those series and Rodgers threw an interception right to 49ers linebacker Navarro Bowman.

"They've got a great defense," Rodgers said. "You've got to give them credit. They've got some of the top guys in the league at their position. They made some good plays, good adjustments, disguised some coverages.

"We didn't have the opportunity to take a lot of shots down the field, but we did, they made some plays on it and we missed a couple third downs there we probably should have had to keep drives going."

Rodgers heated up late and threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to James Jones that pulled the Packers within 30-22. But with the Packers driving for a potential game-tying score, Rodgers took a critical sack on second down and then threw incomplete for Jordy Nelson on fourth down.

Rodgers completed 30 of 44 passes for 303 yards, two touchdowns and the one interception. Rodgers' passer rating of 93.3 certainly wasn't bad. But in his last 22 regular season games, Rodgers has just three with a lower passer rating.

"I wouldn't say we were out of sync," Nelson said. "Their guys just made more plays than we did."

A big reason for the offensive inconsistency was an inability to run the ball. Newcomer Cedric Benson gained just 18 yards in nine carries. Second-year man Alex Green didn't touch the ball. And Rodgers led Green Bay with 27 rushing yards in five carries.

"We didn't run it very well," McCarthy said. "You want to credit their run defense. We wanted to get into a run-play mix there early with the no-huddle offense. I thought Aaron did a good job with that. But, yes, the production definitely wasn't there.

Per usual, McCarthy abandoned the run early. And with Benson no longer a threat, the 49ers focused on the passing game, making sure Rodgers didn't burn them.

San Francisco played with two deep safeties to prevent the big play. Pro Bowl cornerback Carlos Rogers shadowed Greg Jennings and took him out of the game.